Virgin Redux takes place after Girl Interrupted as another steamy interlude from my Bloom Chronicles novels. Nyx and Tara are at it again, but this time they've got someone else joining the party, an intelligence that has joined with Nyx to watch and observe the intelligent species of the universe...in all parts of life.
No living or real people are portrayed or implied and everyone in the story is over 18 and consensual. Oh, and in one case probably hundreds of thousands or even millions of years old.
"Are you still getting used to..." Tara gestured at Nyx's Silverskin covered legs, arm, and, well, the rest of her body. She had patches of newly patented synthetic skin over her upper right arm and several strips on, beside, and across her abdomen as well.
"My... upgrades?" Nyx asked her lover.
Tara reached over and gently ran her fingertips up the smooth but flexible metal alloy of Nyx's thigh. "Yes. Is it really just like it used to be?"
"Oh, it's nothing like it used to be," Nyx said. "I've got so much packed into each leg... Baby, I can fuckin' fly now!"
Tara squinted as she thought back to the schematics she'd poured over and tried to understand. She grunted when she remembered what Nyx meant. "The kinetic lifts... you have one in each leg."
Nyx grinned. "Fuck yeah I do."
Tara shook her head and laughed. "Isn't there a story about the boy that flew too close to the sun?"
Nyx wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm not a boy."
"I don't think that had anything to do with the moral of the story."
Nyx waved her concerns away.
Tara kept tracing her fingers up and down Nyx's thigh, rising higher and higher and sliding them toward the inside of her leg more and more. Nyx shivered and bit her lip when Tara's most recent exploration reversed direction and started back down her leg.
"You really can feel it!" Tara said. "I mean, I know you said you could, but..."
Nyx smiled at her. "Yeah, I can feel it. They've got a multipoint neuro-net built into them. I feel everything, if I have it tuned for that-- which I do. The real question is, how do they feel to you?"
Tara replaced her fingers with her palm and squeezed Nyx's thigh gently. "I'm not sure. It's weird. Like, not real... but it reacts to my touch and it flexes almost like real skin. It's warm and... weird. I think I prefer the original."
Nyx winced. "Baby... the original stuff is gone. Ruined. Dead."
Tara saw the fear in Nyx's eyes and rushed to shush her. "No, I didn't mean that! I'm sorry. I meant... I'd rather touch you where you've still got skin. You know... a little higher up your leg?"
Nyx let out a nervous laugh an said, "Mmm, I see. Well, we can probably do some of that, I was just working on making sure I've got all these contracts lined up right to protect our latest deals and--"
"Nyx?"
Nyx turned to stare into Tara's eyes. She saw the worry plain as day and didn't need the voice in her head.
'Tara thinks something is wrong with you,' the voice of Gene, the sole survivor of the Etheros society and the entity she shared her new hardware with, communicated to her.
"I'm okay, sweetie," Nyx said.
'It bothers you that I'm here, watching and experiencing this. This is part of the agreement we reached.'
Nyx ignored the alien entity this time. She didn't need to respond, Gene knew her thoughts as soon as she thought them. She had no privacy. No matter what she did or what she wanted, Gene was aware. No matter how twisted or dark her thought. No matter how taboo or slutty the deed.
Gene gave voice to her secret that she'd tried to hide even from herself. 'I misunderstood, you're not upset, you're aroused to have me witnessing you.'
'Shit!'
"I didn't ask if you were okay," Tara said. "Now you've got me worried."
Nyx recovered from Gene's revelation in time to respond smoothly, "You were thinking it."
Tara nodded. "A little, yes. You... you're different. I mean, it's still you, but you're acting funny. Is it because of the... well, everything?"
Nyx took in a breath and let it out. "I've been so busy, Tara. I haven't taken any time for myself."
"Or for us," Tara pointed out.
'You're aroused by being watched, but you are upset too. Upset that Tara would not be... and you're hiding me from her. Hiding me from everyone.'
'You really know how to kill a mood, don't you?'
Gene was silent for a few microseconds longer than Nyx expected. 'You're correct, I am proving a poor witness. My apologies. I will refrain from interacting until a more suitable time arises to discuss my observations.'
'I think you need to get laid more than I do,' Nyx counter-observed.
"Nyx? Are you okay?"
Nyx shook her head and smiled. "So okay. I'm sorry, I was just thinking before speaking for once. And well yeah, that's what I meant when I said time for myself. Spending time with you is my happy-place. I... I don't want to share you with anyone but I've had to for... a long time now. I've been worried that, well, maybe things would be different now. That you liked being with everyone."
"Woah, hang on, I haven't been with anyone since we--"
Nyx grimaced and shook her head. "Shit, I'm sorry... that didn't... I didn't mean you were fucking around. I meant just, I don't know, being social with other people. Like, maybe they were more interesting than me."
"Oh my--Nyx! You're crazy! I am totally, one hundred percent, hooked on you! Don't you dare ever think I don't love the crap out of you. After all you put me through, you owe me at least five hundred years of happiness, if not more! And even with the magical science you dream up, we'd be lucky to get twenty percent of that."
"So you're saying I need to compress five hundred years into one hundred... I can do that. I love you so fucking much, baby, it terrifies me."
"Aww, you're so sweet. Dirty and nasty and sweet."
Nyx grinned. "You know, that reminds me."